Time After Time
by AlternativeRocker
Summary: Ronan and Jamie have brought the team together for a meal because they have an announcement which does not please everyone. Five years of the Taggart archive celebration fic.


**Author's Note:** Technically I'm a tad late (only an hour or so) but five years ago the first chapter of my little fic Moving was published here and it has created this gorgeous archive we now have. I thank you for that. Here's to another five years!

* * *

A lot had changed in five years.

Robbie and Jackie had finally got their act together and married while Stuart and Ewan still lived in blissful happiness in the various different houses they had bought since the McIntyre chain had expanded and Stuart had went into business with him. Burke was more or less the same as always, only a little friendlier and caring towards his friends; the addition of Karen Campbell with her mountains of rules and targets had changed him in some way too as he now had a constant antagonist, yet for some reason he enjoyed arguing with her. Even Robbie's son Jamie was a part of his life again which had also led to he and Ronan meeting and starting a relationship of their own which was now in its second year.

The whole group were having a meal in a nice Italian restaurant in the city centre on the insistence of Jamie and Ronan. Each of the couple's were sitting next to their partner, as were Matt and Karen since they wanted somebody to talk with. Soon after ordering dessert the conversation lulled for a second which allowed the younger Ross male to clear his throat and gain the attention of the others.

Ronan found his hand hanging by his side when he stood up and took a hold of it, giving him a little extra courage to begin to speak to the people in front of him, most of whom had known him since he was a child. "We have something to tell you all... Ronan and I are engaged."

He looked down at her and smiled yet she could see he was having trouble so joined him standing before taking over with the revelations, "And that's not everything; I'm pregnant."

The table was completely silent for what felt like am eternity before Robbie raised his voice, "How could you be so stupid?!"

"Thanks a bunch dad, really you have no right-" They were as stubborn as each other which was the worst problem in this kind of situation.

"I have no right? I am your father so yeah, I think I do have a right to tell you the facts!" He shouted, standing up and turning to storm out the front door.

Jackie could tell that Jamie was about to go after his dad - she could tell it just as well as she could tell with Robbie's moods - so quickly tried to intervene. "It will be fine, let me go and get him."

"Tell him he can piss off and that he never has to phone me again please Jack," he loved Jackie, he really did but he felt as though he was taking his dad's side in the argument by not letting him go and hit Robbie.

She hastily looked around in the open air and saw him sneak in to the next alley where she eventually caught up with him. "Robbie! Robbie, get back here right now!"

"Don't say a word. I do not need you interfering with this."

She could not remember the last time she was this speechless with him, "Interfering, is that what you think I do in your life because if it is then we can be over as of this moment?!"

"You know I didn't mean it like that." She could see the hurt in his eyes that she would actually think he didn't want her as his soulmate any longer.

"Good. Anyway, how many scares did you have with all those women, Christ, I wasn't even around to see you when you were his age?"

"That was different, he wants this to happen."

She sighed in exasperation with her husband, "You are such a hypocritical bastard."

"Robbie, I swear to god if you don't go back in there and apologise to your only son I won't be coming home with you."

"He's just a kid though." Jamie had stopped being a child in the law's eyes almost four years ago but Jackie understood that Robbie had not spent that whole time with the boy so he had been trying to make up for it recently.

"I know but they are a good couple - hell they are better together than we are - and it will grow up in the most supportive group of people you could find." It was true about the youths; Jamie had a good paying job in solicitors office while Ronan was part-time in a cafe while studying Psychology at university during the week. They did all this and were managing to keep a flat spotlessly clean and were in a fair financial state.

She slid her fingers through his and squeezed gently as he looked at her, "I would be dead without you."

She let a big smile burst out on to her face, "But instead you get a grandchild thanks to my best friend adopting a lovely red-haired girl a few years ago."

Running a hand over his face one thing leaped to the front of his mind, "Fuck, I'm going to be a grandfather."

"I'll still find you hot." Jackie had known that he would come round to her way of thinking and had just used those threats of leaving without meaning a word of it, and she was glad that she knew when he was angry he was utterly oblivious to her lying face.

He smiled, leaning his head against hers, wondering once more why she had settled for a complete idiot like him.

* * *

Back inside, the atmosphere had cleared itself after Ronan had succeeded in getting her fiance to calm down and they started to talk about the proposal and future with her fathers, Matt and Karen who had simply rolled their eyes at the scene they had witnessed, knowing it was not exactly unexpected. The latter two were also wondering why they had been brought along as they were unrelated to either of the couple but they supposed it may have been if it had kicked off even worse than it had.

Holding Ronan's left hand, Karen gasped at the delicate white gold and diamond engagement ring. "That is beautiful, it really is. I wish mine had been like that instead of the thing I had to put up with for twenty years!" She had split from her husband a year and a half prior to this and couldn't be happier about seeing a couple who were in love entering in to a life of their own.

Burke turned to her and asked,"What was wrong with telling him you hated it?"

"Oh, as if I could have! And Matthew you wonder why your marriage collapsed so quickly." The four watching on raised eyebrows at each other at her use of his full name.

"If you desperately want a pretty ring I'll get it for your birthday, okay?" Karen bit the inside of her cheek, marvelling at the fact she had found a close friend like this, although she wished they would not disagree so much when working with one another.

"You have him so whipped," Ewan muttered, earning a glare from Matt and a subtle nod and smirk from Karen.

"Ewan, she may be trying to move me out of the police but I think I still have enough say there to spread some gossip about your nightclubs that may not be entirely accurate."

"I don't want you out of the police, I just think you'd be better suited elsewhere," she pointed out for the hundredth time as she rested her chin on his shoulder, looking at his side profile, questioning when the wine had took over her sensibility.

Ewan stage-whispered to Stuart at that point, "She only wants him shifted so that she can get in his bed without breaking her perfectly written regulations."

Karen lowered her eyes as Matt glanced to the side, refusing to make eye-contact as what had just been said was not far enough away from her truth for her liking.

Stuart interrupted at that moment as the younger couple at the end of the table covered their mouths with their hands to prevent laughter escaping. "Is our tough lady actually blushing? I don't think this has ever happened before!"

"I am not blushing," she mumbled, lifting her head from the comfortable spot it had been on while trying to think of a suitable punishment for the two slightly drunk men opposite, sensing that Matt's shoulders were shaking from pent-up chuckling at the colour her cheeks were.

* * *

Leading the way, still gripping his wife's hand, Robbie went back in to the restaurant which garnered more than a couple of stares from other customers who had clearly heard every word earlier.

Jamie would not look at him when they first walked in but after a bit of whispered encouragement from the girl next to him he finally glanced across to the other side of the rectangular table.

"What are you doing back here?"

"Look, son, I'm sorry for being such an arse. I was just shocked at the thought of you being so grown up."

"Dad, you have to understand that Ronan and I are deadly serious about each other and want to be together for the rest of our lives, along with starting our own family."

"I know, I'm happy for the both of you and can't wait to see you attempt to raise a baby. Congratulations, honestly."

Jackie smiled as she unconsciously twirled her own wedding band round on her finger, "Now, what did we miss out on while we were outside?"

Stuart decided to get in there first, "Campbell over there admitted she is only trying to sack your boss so she can shag him. He even offered to get her a ring and everything."

Karen's mouth dropped open before she threw a napkin at him, "I did no such thing Jackie, don't believe him! It's a good thing you aren't one of my employees any more!"

The team and its honorary members reverted back to their usual mocking banter, occasionally forgetting they were in a public place when telling certain stories.

Jamie had his arms around Ronan, both pairs of hands resting on the tiniest of bumps that she had; Ewan had the side of his head against Stuart's shoulder, his fingers tracing patterns against his thigh through his jeans. Robbie and Jackie were sharing a melting bowl of chocolate ice-cream, frequently annoying the other by 'accidentally' missing their lover's mouth and getting it all over their cheeks, whispering to each other how long they would have to politely stay before they could get back to their home and up to their bedroom - or wherever they managed to last until before desire got the better of them.

Burke and Karen seemed to just be chatting between themselves when any of the others looked over, and to be honest that was really all that was going on. Unless anyone glanced under the table because if they did then they would have noticed that at some point after Robbie returned they had started to play footsie without actually discussing it at all. Neither of them wanted to broach the subject especially because if they did then they would have to make a decision as to what they were going to do when the group ended their evening, and Karen also feared that if anything did happen following this what would take place if Matt still refused to change his role in the station.

A lot had changed in five years, and there was still so much more to follow.


End file.
